96. Takes note of the position of the Swedish Government expressed in the lettertransmitted to the Temporary Committee by its Foreign Minister Carl Bildt; regrets thatno representative of the government was able to appear before the TemporaryCommittee in order to hold an exchange of views on its position;

97. Condemns the fact that Sweden's expulsion in December 2001 of Mohammed El-Zariand Ahmed Agiza, Egyptian nationals who were seeking asylum in Sweden, was basedsolely on diplomatic assurances from the Egyptian Government, which did not provideeffective safeguards against torture; also acknowledges that the Swedish governmenthindered them from exercising their rights in accordance with the European convention,by not informing their lawyers until before they had arrived in Cairo; deplores the factthat the Swedish authorities accepted an US offer to place at their disposal an aircraftwhich benefited from special overflight authorisation in order to transport the two mento Egypt;

98. Deplores the fact that the Swedish security police lost control over the enforcement ofthe expulsion of Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed El-Zari to Egypt, outside the rule oflaw, by remaining passive during the degrading treatment of the men by US agents atBromma airport;

99. Underlines that the decision of the expulsion was taken at the highest executive level,from which no appeal was possible;

100. Fully endorses the UN Human Rights Committee's decision of 6 November 2006 inwhich it found that Sweden had breached the absolute ban on torture; similarly endorsesa separate ruling by the UN Committee against Torture of 20 May 2005, whichconcluded that Sweden had violated the UN Convention against Torture and otherCruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and stated that “procurement ofdiplomatic assurances (from Egypt), which, moreover, provided no mechanism for theirenforcement, did not suffice to protect against this manifest risk";

101. Thanks the Swedish Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, Mats Melin, for his testimony tothe Temporary Committee and applauds his investigation which concluded that theSwedish security service and airport police “were remarkably submissive to theAmerican officials” and “lost control of the enforcement”, resulting in the ill-treatmentof Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed El-Zari, including physical abuse and otherhumiliation, at the airport immediately before they were transported to Cairo;

DENMARK

129. Welcomes the cooperation received from the Danish authorities, while regretting that norepresentative of the government considered it appropriate to appear before theTemporary Committee;